HC summons 7 lawyers over fraud in motor accident claims

The Madras High Court has summoned seven lawyers to appear before it and explain their alleged involvement in multiple motor accident insurance claims for same accidents, after an expert body recommended action against them.

Justice P N Prakash, before whom the cases of multiple claims of insurance came up for hearing on Thursday, passed the interim order after perusing the report of the body headed by retired judge K Chandru.

The report said the body culled out from records names of the seven advocates and recommended immediate action against them for involvement in the fake Motor Claims Tribunal Original Petition (MCOP) claim cases.

The body, appointed by the court on July 19 to inquire into the menace of multiple insurance claims for the same accident, had examined 353 cases, related to compensation claim totalling Rs 60.71 crore, and received responses from 150 advocates or claimants.

It pointed out that after coming to know of the inquiry, around 70 such cases involving a total claim amount of